Friday, November 22, 2013

I have a lot of things to do today, but there's someone who has been on my mind lately, and I just can't go any longer without writing about him. This guy.

Or is it this guy? You can see why I started dating him, right? :)

Tony and I have been a couple for 10 years this month. Or last month. Funny thing about us ... we can't remember any of our "firsts" except our wedding date. No idea when we started dating ... it was sometime after Homecoming and before Christmas. Can't remember when our first kiss happened, and we even disagree about the location. We know we got engaged in August, but don't know what day.

We haven't aged a bit in ten years, have we? ;) Anyway, my hubby has been putting up with me for ten whole years! And ladies, I'm sorry to tell you, but I got the best one. Straight up, nobody even comes close, best one. Let me count randomly bullet-point the ways:

He makes breakfast for the whole family, every single morning.

He is the sole provider for all six of us.

He walks in the door from work and jumps in wherever he's needed at home, without complaining.

He rocks our babies for hours at a time when they'll only sleep in somebody's arms.

I ruined his marriage proposal, and he still married me! (I promise to write about this someday.)

He loves to build and work with his hands, which means that we can work on our house side-by-side.

He doesn't correct me when I'm telling stories, even when he knows I'm exaggerating for added drama. :)

He's muy guapo.

He loves our children. I especially love to watch him when he holds our new babies for the first time.

He plays with our children.

He makes the annoying phone calls that I don't want to make, like insurance.

He lets me pretend to be in charge, even though we both know that he's the boss.

He leads our family prayerfully and strives to be a Godly husband and father.

There are at least a hundred more reasons that I'm glad I've got this guy to share life with, but nap time is almost over so I've got to put on my game face. Thanks for a wonderful ten years, Tony! Can't wait to see what the next ten hold ... and the ten after that ... and the ten after that ... and ....

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

My big girl turned two on November 1st! You know, sometimes it feels like the years have flown by and you can't believe your child is whatever age she is. With Marlowe, it's the opposite. I can't believe she's only two years old! It feels more like she should be three. She sure has packed a lot of life and joy into the last two years.

Marlowe is (and always has been) big for her age -- at barely two, I'm currently moving the 3T clothes into her closet. The twins still have a few 3T things in their closet, too! What am I going to do if/when I have three girls in the same size of clothing?!? Donations will be gladly accepted. :)

Marlowe is also incredibly verbal. She speaks in full sentences and has lots of questions. I'm sure this is because she learns from Hadley and Leila while the three of them play together. Marlowe still has that cute toddler lisp, though. Her speech patterns are pretty much adorable. One of my favorite recent memories is from about a month ago, when we moved her into a big girl bed. Of course, that night there was experimenting with her new freedoms. She figured out how to open her bedroom door, and she would pop out of her room and yell gleefully, "I NOT SLEEPY, DADDY!!!" This repeated several times until we found our childproofing doorknob cover in a storage bin. Little stinker. ;)

Like her sisters did when she was a baby, Marlowe has watched me mothering Cecily, and has started mimicking that by mothering her own baby. She nurses her baby, dresses her, changes her diaper, and, as you can see, especially likes to give her drinks. :)

And here she is with her real life baby:

I love this girl with my whole heart. She may be the orneriest, sneakiest, messiest, loudest child I've ever known on some days, but she makes up for it with her bouncing walk, sticky kisses, and unprompted hugs around my knees with an "I wuv you, Mommy!" That's my girl. Happy second birthday, Marlowe Grace!

Monday, November 4, 2013

A few months ago, I mentioned to Tony that I should decide on a theme for Marlowe's second birthday party before Cecily was born, because I knew I'd be a walking zombie after her birth. Without hesitating, he suggested Mars. After a "no, seriously" from me, I realized that he meant we should build a theme around her nickname (Mars, of course) -- so, an outer space theme was born.

I started with some paper lanterns, hung to look like planets:

Then I ordered some Mars bars. Remember these? They don't make them in the US anymore. These were shipped from England.

Bought some star paper and whipped out a banner and some pennants:

No party is complete without cake pops from my sister Melissa! Aren't these awesome?

I had my mom draw an alien on the mirror at the last minute. :) That's Paula, sister and photographer extrordinaire!

And here's the completed dessert table!

Marlowe sang along to "Happy Birthday". I didn't have a cake this time, so no candle.

I made a rocket out of cardboard boxes, wrapping paper, and cardstock. It was a big hit with the kids!

We always request "no gifts, please" on our birthday invitations (which the girls' grandparents always ignore). :) This was Marlowe's gift from Tony and me -- a rocking airplane. I bought it from a Craigslist-type site, new in the box, for super cheap! She and all the girls love it.

We had so much fun, celebrating our two-year-old with our family! Marlowe had a blast, too -- she's a total ham when there's a crowd, and she enjoyed having the spotlight all to herself!